Paw Painted Sunsets
by goldykat
Summary: Just another one of those dime a dozen Marauders/OCs stories
1. Chapter 1

She'd smoothed the wrinkled paper between her hands to the point that it was softer than cats fur, and more delicate than onion skin. The words had long blurred from the restless twisting and twiddling of her fingers. Shoving her inky hair behind a almost inhumanly pointed ear she couldn't resist reading the top line of the letter for the hundredth time.

"Dear Miss. Raina Che'vock  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

In vain Rain tried to block out the first-day-of-school questions '_How are you going to make friends? You've barley studied, has everyone else already memorized their school books? What if you trip and fall on the steps in front of everyone? What if their all stuck-up pureblood snobs?'. _Hoping for a distraction she glanced around the Knight Bus, immediately regretting her action as she met her twins jealous eyes across the aisle.

"Left Ernie! I said left!" A shrunken head told the very young bus driver sitting in the drivers seat. Rain was violently thrown into the boy next to her, his black hair snaked down her arm in greasy tangles before he backed up hastily. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as they stared at each other, not entirely sure what to say.

"Rain, Apologize! Your so clumsy!" Her twin snapped, never missing the chance to correct her sister. The twins were the opposite of identical, while Rain was all straight lines and shy curves with delicate feminine cheekbones and and pointy elvish face, her twin, Ashley, was all bold curves that left no mistake that she was a girl. Ashley could have been a model in the Muggle world, pretty and blond with pale blue eyes. Rain was hair was so black it looked like she'd died it with ink, her blue eyes were so dark they looked violet. Rain clenched her fists and silently turned to look out the window, she wasn't about to give her sister the satisfaction of doing was she said.

Ashley rolled her eyes and leaned over to talk to the girl next to her. "Excuse me, are you going to Diagon Alley to shop for school supplies?"

The girl raised her head up from the sheet she was writing on and blinked her bright green eyes in surprise. "Yes, are you?"

Ashley grinned at her, she was looking to find a new clique, this girl was pretty enough to fit in. The sly look Ashley sent her sister quiet clearly said '_Look I'm already making friends, **unlike you**_'. "Umm-humm, I'm starting school in September. I'm going to _Beauxbatons__._ My sister-" She said the word as if it burned her mouth. "-is going to _Hogwarts_."

The relief of finding someone who might go to the same school drizzled off Ashley's face as the green eyed girl next to her spoke. "Is their something wrong with going to Hogwarts? It's where Severus and I are going!" She said it half tartly half worriedly as she gestured to the boy sitting next to Rain.

"Of course there's nothing _wrong_ with Hogworts!" Ashley back peddled quickly, her face scrunched as she said it. "Its just... I've heard stories you know, especially about Slytherin."

Before the girl could reply, Severus, the boy next to Rain protested. "Theirs nothing wrong with Slytherin! My families been in it for generations."

"And I think we can all see _why_." Ashley said nastily, bumping her shoulder into the girl next to hers for support. Instead of laughing nastily as Ashley clearly meant her to, glaring the girl scooted away from her. "What, you want to be in Slytherin _too, _Christmas?" Ashley nicknamed her new enemy for the combination of her red hair and green eyes.

"It's Lily. Lily Evans." She spat.

"Sure, _Christmas." _Ashley said with fake sweetness, pointedly ignoring Lily's name. She stood up and smiled down at them regally, as if she was a Queen and they were peasants. "Excuse me, I think my maids calling, sister dear?" Rain shook her head mutely and returned to gazing out the window at the scenery racing past. She waited until the click of Ashley's uncomfortable high heels faded before she glanced at Lily again- and was met with a full on glare.

Rain met her eyes squarely. "Do _you _have a problem with Slytherin?" Lily growled.

Without missing a beat Rain said casually. "Actually I think I prefer Ravenclaw myself."

There was silence as the two girls sized each other up, before Severus let out a badly disguised laugh. Startled out of there minuscule fight Lily and Rain seemed to realize the absurdness of what they were doing and smiled at each other. More out of wanting to start a conversation than actually curiosity Rain asked Severus, "Why do you want to be in Slytherin?"

Severus blushed shyly and replied "Its where all of my bloodline have gone, the Prince's, and supposedly its where all the people who are cunning and good at the Dark Magic go-" His blush deepened as if he were embarrassed as he mumbled. "I kind of have a knack for the Dark Arts."

"So," Lily started, changing the subject from Severus's awkward confession. "Are you a pureblood?"

"_Lily_!" Severus hissed. " _You cant just go around asking people if_-"

Rain ignored him, "I'm a pureblood, are you two?"

Lily shook her head and said " Muggle born" at the same time Severus mumbled "Halfblood"

Rain's eyes widened curiously. "What's it like growing up in the muggle world?"

"What's it like growing up in the Wizarding world?" Lily countered.

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"Children, this is your stop!" The kind old conductor announced, smiling at them from the front of the bus.

The three students-to-be returned his smile distractedly. "True, but how do microwaves and stoves _work_? I mean I've heard of fires trapped in a bottle, do you think its the same thing?" Rain continued their conversation as she helped Severus gather up his belongings.

"I don't actually know, but I'm sure their strictly non-magic, could it use something like a gas lamp? Or somehow heated with electricity?" Lily grabbed Severus's offered hand to steady herself as she stepped nimbly off the the metal platform and onto the street. Behind her Rain jumped off unceremoniously, having to steady herself by grabbing Lily's shoulder when she landed on the unsteady ground. "This doesn't look like Diagon Alley!" Lily spun back to the bus, but it was already speeding away, overflowing trash cans leaping out of its way.

"Did they drop us off at the wrong stop?" Rain asked, squinting around. They stood in front of a tiny, grubby-looking pub, squatting between a bookshop and a record store. A sign half off its hinges declared this creepy looking pub to be 'The Leaky Cauldron'.

"I didn't see your sister get off, she was going here too, right?" Lily worried. "Should we go inside, or should we wait for the bus to come back?"

"We don't have a wand, so we can't call the Knight bus. Our only option is..." Severus trailed off, all their eyes glued to the pub.

"Right." Lily squared her shoulders and looped her arm though Severus's. "Lets go." They walked shoulder to shoulder, right up to the door, Rain grabbed the doorknob. The other two stepped back to give her room as she yanked open the door. Blocking their view of the pub were two bickering women. As the women stepped back to let them pass the trio heard a snippet of conversation.

"When my Sirius is in Slytherin-"

"-Lucius has already met the head of Slytherin, and do you know what he said?"

But then the two paused to see who walked passed them and started to whisper excitedly. "Daughter of..." "_Pureblood_" "Marriage" "Pretty babies", and then more clearly: "But look at the company she keeps! Isn't that Eileen Prince's son? She married a Muggle you know, what a scandal!"

Lily glanced at her old and new friend, Rain was looking away from her, frowning into the smokey haze around the bar. The only evidence she'd even heard the gossipers was her hands clenched in her hoodie pockets. Severus bent his head so his long hair covered his face. For a moment Lily felt lonely and out of place, she didn't have a drop of wizard blood, unlike her friends. Rain set off determinedly toward the bar pushing past a man with only two fingers.

Rain stepped up to the bar and attempted to hail the African-American bartender. He finished pouring a spider webbed metal wine glass of something that looked suspiciously like blood, before walking over to her slowly, he leaned down to be eye level with her. "Welcome to 'da Leaky Caldron, something you'd like darl'n? A nice c'se of Butter Beer? Maybe s'mething to make ye' a wee bit taller?" He droned in a surprisingly thick Scottish accent that didn't match his skin color.

She ignored his comment on her lack of height and asked tartly "The Knight Bus dropped us off at the wrong place, do you know how I can get to Diagon Alley from here?"

"Diagon Alley?" The bartender threw back his head a roared with laughter. "Ya' 'ear that boys? Little tike can't find 'e Alley!" The entire bar laughed, a smoking women clothed in a tent of blue fabric sitting at the bar gave them a pitiful look.

"And y'er what, fir't years?" The bartender scrutinized them with deep brow eyes. "Lookin' f'ur Olivanders an' the like?"

Rain slammed her finger up into his face, pointing at the spot between his eyes. "Are you going to tell us how to get there or not?"

Grabbing her finger the bartender rudely yanked it over his shoulder, throwing her off balance. "See da' door?" Glancing at the back door her finger was now aimed at, she nodded.

"It'll lead us to Diagon Alley?" Rain tried to confirm, but the bartender had already moved to his next costumer.

The women in blue gave one last drag of her pipe, the smoke that leaked out her mouth when she exhaled was in the shape of a detailed 3D racing horse. The women rolled her eyes in the bartenders direction, before grabbing her old lady handbag off the floor and stepping carefully over to Lily. "Looking lost my lambs? I'll help you get through the boundary." She gestured with one long purple fingernail for them to follow her. She walked to the back door, twisting the knob, not looking to see if they were following, and disappeared through it.

"Lambs?" Severus hissed under his breath as he carefully maneuvered to the back door, Lily behind him with Rain in tow. The women led them out into a small, walled courtyard, host to only a few scraggly weeds. Drawing out her wand she silently tapped a brick three times in a row, before stepping back to let them get past her. The bricks seemed to peel away, like turning the page in a thick book. Unveiled in front of them was a long cobblestone street, lined with all sorts of stores and filled with all sorts of bustling people.

"Come on, hurry it through!" The Witch shoved from behind, they tumbled through just in time to see the entryway behind them peel shut as if it were never there.

After a moment of bewilderment, Rain turned to the two excitedly "Have you already got money, or do we have to stop at Gringotts?"

Severus nodded mutely, Lily said. "Severus's mom helped us change out money."

"Right." Rain dove into her pocket and drew out the packing list. "Should we do this in order or just go down the line of stores?"

"Lets just go in the stores, and we can cross stuff off the list." Severus leaned over her shoulder, his lips moving soundlessly as he read the list. "First is a cauldron." He started toward a store with a obvious pile cauldrons sitting outside. It was bright and warm inside, a pudgy women siting at the desk in the back stood up and came over to them.

"In need of school cauldrons?" The witch asked, to the three's nods of various enthusiasm. "What year, dearies?"

"First, we need pewter, size two." Lily answered for all of them, but the witch's smile was lost on her as Lily spun around, trying to take in the whole store at once. The witch raised her wand and three cauldrons sailed down from the top shelf to land safely on the counter. They paid for them (Lily counting out the money in Rain's hand) and moved on the the next store, calling "Thank You"s over their shoulders.

Next in line was the Apothecary, where it was cool and dim. Strange things lined the walls and hung from the ceiling, bright powders, and noxious looking liquids, it smelled terrible. Severus and Lily examined 'Ground Unicorn Hoofs', while Rain talked to the clerk about basic incidence for potions. Rain bartered and was able to get them all brass scales, phials, silver telescopes, and potion ingredients extremely cheap. There after they let Rain handle all their money. Outside they headed for the bookstore, after dragging a fascinated Lily away from a huge window display of brooms, reminding her they weren't allowed.

Inside Flourish and Blotts the air was perfumed with the smell of new ink and dry pages. After handing over their course books list to a harried looking assistant, they broke up to each explore their own types of books, Severus to the Dark Arts section, Lily to the Charms, and Rain to Ancient Runes. As Lily flipped through a book about how to charm a fish into tap dancing, a horrid screaming came from the section Severus had wandered into. A tired looking employ push past her with his wand raised. Worried about her friend she dashed after him, stopping in front of a amused looking Rain leaning on the end of a bookshelf that was the entrance to the Dark Arts section. Rain grinned wryly when she saw Lily, "I swear, I told him not to open it!". Leaning around her, Lily stuck her head around the bookshelf. Severus and a few assistants were trying to wrestle a screaming book closed. The book was bound with tan leather, a face seemed to be pushing out from the pages, _It_ was the thing screaming.

There was a sound of ripping pages, half the book was sat unmoving in Severus's hands while the other half flew out of the section, just missing Lily's head. It flew past a few startled shoppers before slamming into the wooden door with a painful-sounding smack. Over, and over, the thing slammed into the door, trying to escape, behind it the employs signaled to each other, they were going to trap it. But just then, the door opened, a startled wizard ducked as a flying book sailed over his head and out into the street. Everyone in the store watched as the book flew in front of the window, screamed one last time, and promptly ripped itself to shreds.

Severus ducked his head sheepishly, "I'll pay for it." After that there was a blur of motion, the books were shoved into their hands, they payed, and were graciously shown to the door. They were obviously meant to leave before they broke anything else.

Through the entire ordeal, Rain was trying to hold in laughter. "Well," She said breathlessly "I cant say shopping with you guys isn't an adventure!"

Juggling their books, they headed for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Inside there were rows and rows of stands, covered in all sorts of fabrics. Lily reached out to brush a beautiful lime green scarf with her fingers, just before they touched the fabric a tall and lanky women materialized out of no where, grabbing her hand and yanking it away from the cloth. Lily cried out in surprise as the women held up her hand examining her fingers in the sunlight. "Did you touch it?" the women asked her. Lily shook her head mutely, as the women sighed in relief. She gestured to the fabric. "Look closely." Lily obediently bend her head, her eyes widened. Now that she was close to the fabric, she could see rows of tiny curved spikes were poking out of it, like Velcro. "All of those are filled with a fatal poison. If you'd touched one, you would be dead by now." The shopkeeper said calmly, as if she didn't really care if Lily had touched it.

Behind her, her two friends were watching, surprised. The shopkeeper clapped her hands together and smiled at them with mossy green teeth. "Right, school robes?" Lily and Severus nodded, but Rain shook her head.

As the shopkeeper led them away to stand on stools, and be fitted in the back of the store, Rain called to their retreating backs, "I'll find us gloves and hats!"

Severus helped Lily onto her tall stool, explaining quietly, "Most purebloods already have robes." Lily took in the information with surprise, she'd almost forgotten Rain was a pureblood. Standing on the stool she could see Rain attacking a box of gloves labeled 'Dragon Hide'. The tall shopkeeper pulled out a long knotted cord from her pocket, calling out how many knots Lily was as the women pulled it around her chest, shoulders, and waist. Next to her a male assistant was measuring Severus quickly. Lily couldn't help the blush that stained her cheeks when she heard Severus was skinnier than her. When they hopped down, the shopkeeper spoke quietly with the male assistant before turning back to them as the assistant disappeared into the storerooms. "I have your size." She told Lily, then turning to Severus, "But you I shall give a few sizes bigger, boys always grow."

The assistant came back with their robes, helping them arrange the clothes and books so that they could carry it all. In the corner Rain was holding three hats in one hand and paying with the other (They were still letting her handle the money.) She winked at them and gestured that she'd meet them at the door. A few minuets later, they exited the shop and Rain handed out hats and gloves to them, she'd gotten Lily a beautiful light blue pair, the scales shimmering like diamonds. Severus she'd gotten a pair of dark green ones, that were threaded and spider webbed with silver, 'Slytherin Colors' Rain had explained. The two old friends shifted uncomfortably under the weight of all their supplies as Rain checked the packing list and led them across the street to and dusty looking store called 'Ollivander's Wands: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.'.

A tinkling bell rang in the back of the shop as Rain held the door open so her two friends could get past. They stood in a tiny open space before the ends of huge narrow shelves so long they couldn't see the ends. On the shelves were hundreds of boxes, they looked like expensive boxes that you'd put expensive jewelry or Rolex watches in, perfectly square and decorated, if a bit dusty.

"Hello." A old sounding voice said behind them, they all jumped, Lily almost dropping her cauldron, the wrinkly old shopkeeper hadn't been there a moment ago. "Set your things over there, preferably before you drop them on my floor." He gestured at the desk, before staring hard at Severus with his pale eyes. Instead of meeting his eyes, Severus examined the floor, his ego still hurt from the book accident. "Pine? Not at all pliable though, no, can't be flexible." The old man, who they presumed was Mr. Ollivander, whispered to himself quietly. "Name?" he asked Severus sharply.

"Severus Snape." Severus recited.

"Hmmmm." said Mr. Ollivander, studying Severus. He pulled a long tape measurer with silver markings out of his breast pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

"Oh, um...I'm left-handed." He replied.

"Hold out your arm." He measured Severus from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. Mr. Ollivander dropped the measuring tape and started to brows the shelves, instead of dropping to the floor though, as any _normal _propermeasuring tape would do, this one continued to measure the space between his eyes, then the length of his nose.

The trio could no longer see Mr. Ollivander, but he was still taking to them from down the shelves, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Severus. We use unicorn hairs, heartstrings of dragons, and the tail feathers of a phoenix. The reaction of the wand, makes somewhat of a prediction of your future. No two Ollivander wands are the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizards wand." The tape measurer gave a satisfied shake, flew to Lily, and started measuring the length of all her fingers.

Mr. Ollivander reappeared with a pile of boxes, he opened one to reveal a polished wooden stick. "Nine and a half inches, pine, unicorn hair good at Transfiguration." He lifted the wand up and offered the thicker end to Severus. Taking it, Severus waved it through the air _hard_, blue sparks shot out of the tip and straight as Rain, she had no time to duck. The sparks hit her in the chest, knocking her straight off her feet and into a shelf of wand boxes. Mr. Ollivander didn't even spare Rain a glance, but yanked the wand out of Severus's hands. "_Not _pine, no, no, not stiff enough either." As Lily helped Rain up, Mr. Ollivander disappeared back into into the shelves. Reappearing he held a pure black box in his hand, opening this box he revealed a thick lighter colored wand. "Try this one. Birch, completely stiff, Dragon heart string, eight inches." Severus grasped the wand carefully, as soon as he did a dragon made of white sparkles emerged from the end, it roared silently, before turning black and disappearing, all of Severus's pale skin seemed to glow before it slowly trickled back into the wand and ebbed away, lastly appearing in his fingernails. "Betrayal." Mr. Ollivander smiled at him creepily, before turning to Lily.

"Name?" He asked her, snatching the tape measure as is attempted to measure the with of her stiff arm.

"Lily Evans." Already knowing the drill she held out her right arm. He measured only the length of her arm before dropping the tape measurer, where it measured only between Lily's shoulder blades before flying at Rain and measuring her nose.

He snatched a peach-orange colored case off the desk, "Holly and phoenix feathers, eleven inches, nice a supple." As soon as her fingers brushed it, he snatched it back, "Matches the eyes." He muttered. Racing back toward the shelves he plucked up a box that was a lovely shade of brown. "American Scyamore, thirteen inches, dragon heart-string." Lily carefully brushed it with her fingers, when Mr. Ollivander didn't snatch it back, she grasped it firmly and gave it a wave. Green and purple smoke poured from the wand to make a thick burning cloud of dancers. Looking shaken Lily dropped the wand, the tips of her fingers black, Severus immediately launched towards her worriedly. He rubbed at her fingers thinking she was burnt, but the black substance was only soot.

"Third times the charm, Miss. Evans! Ten and quarter inches long, willow, swishy, nice for charms, unicorn tail." Mr. Ollivander snatched another box off the desk, this one was light blue, almost the color of the gloves Rain had bought Lily earlier. This time she was more cautious, lifting the wand lightly she delicately waved it. Beautiful flowers erupted from the wand, red centers bleeding into pure white with gold edges. Her skin, like Severus's, glowed, but it was more like her outer layer had suddenly become diamond and glittered when she moved. Then the flowers started to explode like tiny fireworks, one by one, when it got to the last flower a blinding light flashed, and she was back to normal. "A love prediction, congratulations" He told Lily.

Mr. Ollivander turned to Rain, before he could say a word she sang cheekily, "Raina Che'vock, left handed."

He seemed startled before he said, "Your mother got her first wand here, she was a very...interesting women." Rain's smile seem to become fake, like she was trying hard to keep it up. Their eye's met and Rain didn't look away like Severus, she held his gaze, and he was the first to look away. "Maybe a wand like hers?" Rain said nothing, the air had suddenly become very tense and cold. "Hard, extremely expensive, rare, mahogany, nine inches, expensive purebred unicorn tail." beside Lily, Severus gritted his teeth, it was an obvious insult to Rain's family name. Rain smiled a cool, trained smile, and it was almost as if she were another person, not the girl who had told jokes and stories with them in the bus. She lightly grasped the wand and gave it a lazy wave, it was several minutes of tense waiting until in the very back of the store their was a loud crash, one of the huge heavy shelves had tumbled down. Mr. Ollivander ripped the the wand out of her hand much more violently than he needed too. Mr. Ollivander stared at the wand for a moment, then he looked between Rain and the wand several times, finally he told her quietly, "This wand is almost identical to your mothers, did you know wands match up with the soul? But yours...curious indeed" He twirled the wand between his fingers for a moment, before heading back between the shelves, something similar to respect in his eyes.

"I'll try to find you something entirely different, the farthest thing from it." They waited in silence until Mr. Ollivander returned, Rain not meeting Severus's eyes. "Now this, try this. Indian Rosewood, very long, fourteen inches, phoenix tail. Farthest thing I have from the last wand." This time when Rain grasped it, her fingers warmed and two wolves burst from the end, one white, one black. The two wolves frolicked and played for a moment before the the black one turned and disappeared, the white wolf sat alone, sniffing the air, it realized it was alone and wailed, howling mournfully and lonely until it to faded, all alone. Her skin glowed, or more like shined, like there was something under her skin, pulsing. Until it too faded, leaving the room seemingly darker than before, the mournful howl of the wolf still echoing between the shelves.

After giving Rain a peculiar look, Mr. Ollivander disappeared again to get them all plastic bags to put there wands in. Rain, who had their money, paid seven gold galleons for each, and even though it was over priced, she said nothing, wanting to leave this creepy, dusty place more than anything. After handing her friends their wands, Rain practically ran out of there. Standing on the sidewalk outside with bright cheery sunlight warming their skin, it seemed like the weird stuff that just occurred was only a bad dream.

"Well, that was certainly interesting." Lily said thoughtfully looking at the wand in Ollivander's shop window.

Next to her, Rain shivered, "I don't think I like Mr. Ollivander very much." She said it so quietly that the other two weren't sure they'd even heard her. Turning around, away from Ollivanders shop and gloominess, she smiled and abruptly looped her arms through Lily and Severus's and started to run. "Come on, ice cream, my treat!" She yelled.

"I can run on my own, let go!" Severus yelled in mock seriousness, laughing. Rain slipped her arm out of his, she and Lily racing far ahead of him. He could only barley see them in between the crowds of witches and wizards. Laughing and breathing hard they waited for him to catch up outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, looking a flavors through the tall floor to ceiling windows. The three had vivid debates about which flavor each should get.

"Something Muggly, huh?" Rain pondered, trying to find something Lily would eat. "I still recommend the Cockroach flavor, some of the cockroaches are still alive when you eat it." She said teasingly. "But Muggle like...?"

"_Muggly_? You made that word up! How about Blood flavored? Ooh! They have glowing ice cream, it shines so bright you can see it get digested through your skin on your stomach." Severus tried to get her to try it but she shook her head.

Finally Rain snapped her fingers. "Got it! Plumcot."

"Plumcot?" Lily asked skeptically, "Do I even want to know what that is?"

"Actually, that's not a bad idea. I mean, its Muggle fruits, normal stuff." Severus grinned at her.

"It sounds good, I'll try it if-" _you tell me whats in it, _Rain had already entered the shop before Lily could finish her sentence, through the window they heard her ask for three large ice cream cones, one Tartare, one Tamarind, and one Plumcot. Lily banged her head on the window none too gently and groaned, "I'm totally gonna regret this, aren't I?" The door bells jingled as Rain banged into the door with her foot, with her hands full, she couldn't turn the door knob. Lily glanced skyward and volunteered to find an outside table if Severus helped Rain. She picked up the supplies they'd set on the floor when considering flavors, and set them down next to a tiny round table with four tall chairs. As she sat down an crazily grinning Rain appeared and handed her a cone that was made up of beautiful combination of the colors, red, orange, and dark purple. Severus's was coffee colored with odd black seeds sticking out of it, Rains was a drippy combination of brown and red, in her stomach Lily had a feeling the red sauce was real, warm, animal blood, poured on top like sprinkles. "What is Tartare?"

"Its a raw steak dish they serve in Asia for breakfast." Severus answer, always a scholar.

At the face Lily made, Rain spoke, with blood dripping down her chin, "Its really good, imagine rare streak, that's been frozen. Besides, don't knock my flavor when you haven't even tried yours!"

She'd been caught! Lily thought that if she just held it there, maybe slipped a little bit of it into her napkin, the others wouldn't notice she hadn't eaten it. But now they were both watching her expectantly. "Is there no hope that you'll tell me what's in it?" It was a hopeless question, Lily already knew Rain wasn't going to tell her. Not waiting for a reply Lily snapped her eyes shut, sticking out her tongue all the way. She just barley brushed the ice cream with the very tip of her tongue before snapping it back into her mouth.

"Good? Bad? Oh-my-god-it-tastes-like-poison?" Rain and Severus waited anxiously for a reaction.

Lily popped open her eyes and grinned at them. "This is _fantastic_!"

"Now," Severus said to Rain, watching Lily lick the ice cream like she was suddenly starving. "I think we can tell her what's in it."

"A plumcot is a natural complex cross hybrid between plums and apricots." Rain fiddled around in her bag and pulled out her packing list, she layed it flat on the table, smoothing it with her fingers. "I think we have everything that we need, so after this we go back to the Leakey Cauldron?"

Lily made a strangled sound through her full mouth and held up one slender finger to signal they should wait until she swallowed. "Theres one more shop I want to go to."

Rain tilted her head like a confused puppy, running her fingers down the list. They had everything they needed. "Where?"

Lily shook her head, net telling. "You'll see after we finish our ice cream."

With this new prospect of adventure, Rain said something along the lines of 'bottoms up!' and shoved her entire cone into her mouth. Her mouth bulged, partway open, until she managed to swallow it whole, which was clearly not a good idea. She started to cough wildly and her face burned a light shade of blue. Lily noted that the color of her skin when well with her eyes as Severus patted her on the back roughly until her skin color returned to pale and she stopped choking. Lily finished a close second, and the girls waited impatiently for Severus to finish his, the more they fidgeted the more he seemed to slow down. When Severus finally finished, the girls had already divided up all their loot and packed them up (his included, they weren't going to waste the time it would take for him to pack). Lily took the lead, and led them to the very tip of of Diagon Alley, to a store with a large red awning, above it was large tarnished gold letters telling anyone who walked by that the store was named 'Magical Menagerie'.

"I should have known." Severus sighed quietly.

"Right." Lily snatched Rain's list. "It says we can get a owl, a cat, or a toad. I'm getting an owl, so you two fight over the other two."

"Why do we have to get animals? And why can't we get owls?" Severus looked to Rain for support, but she was busy peering through the glass front window at a hamster the size of an alligator.

"Because I don't want to be the only one getting an animal, and their are three of us and three choices, so we each need to pick a different one."

Severus made sure Rain was out of earshot before whispering to Lily, "But you know me, I kill everything living. Remember the Immortal cactus I got for Christmas? _Immortal_. I killed it in two days!"

"Then get a toad, their indestructible! Seriously, look-" She raised her voice and yelled to Rain, "Rain, you get a cat!" Rain gave a distracted thumbs up and entered the store ahead of them. Only when they were alone did she drop her voice back to a whisper. "Please?" She gave him full on puppy-eyes, knowing that he could never refuse them.

"Fine. But Its gotta be a really really good toad." Lily gave him one of her brilliant smiles and flew into the shop, dragging a regretful Severus behind her. Inside it was stuffy and dark, the walls were crammed with cages. Above their heads a large tank of harshly colored snails was hanging from the ceiling, rapped around the top of the tank was a huge yellow snake. Across the room Rain called for Lily to come look at the 'Adorable Kitty', they split up as Lily headed over to see the animal and Severus followed a huge sign saying 'School Toads'.

"Oh, you picked a great one!" An shopkeeper's assistant told Rain as they watched a tiny short-haired Calico kitten press his paws through the netting of his cage. "I'm not sure I can part with this one." She admitted sadly. The kitten was mostly white, with big black and caramel splotches all over her fur that looked like she'd been splattered with paint, and had tiny jewel-bright green eyes. "He's not declawed, half-Kneazle, and he has a heart murmur, do you still want him?"

The kitten mewed cutely. "Do I _want_ him? More than anything!! When can I have him?"

The assistant smiled, and together they lifted the kitten's cage and set it on the main desk in the front of the shop. Lily and Severus followed several minutes later. Lily had a plump Tawny owl that was russet and white, Lily was watching her with wide-eyed admiration, Severus had a squirming aqua and yellow Firebellied toad cupped in his hands. They walked out of the shop carrying two cages and one tiny terrarium.

"Okay, next stop is the Leakey Cauldron?" Rain asked them, scratching her kitty's chin through the bars of his cage.

"Yep, time to go home!" Lily yawned and grinned, the day had been full of surprises and fun but she was ready to call it a day. The three fell in step with her as she slowly started to make her way down the street. In reply to the darkening sky, around them shops were closing up, pulling in their outside displays, cleaning tables, and shutting off lights. In front of Flourish and Blotts, a boy was sweeping what was left of the screaming book into a dustpan. When they walked past him, Severus ducked his head and moved so Rain was between him and the store. As they passed a man holding up empty plates, he shoved them under there noses shouting 'Invisible pizza, won't keep, you can have it discounted!'.

Getting back through the wall was trickier, they all took out their wands a tapped practically all the bricks three times until a passing witch told them they only had to touch it with their fingers. Embarrassed, they quickly slipped through the barrier and back into the empty tavern. The bartender looked up when they entered, but when he saw it was only some kids, he returned to scrubbing a set of blue margarita glasses. They passed him silently, dragging their feet tiredly on the wooden floors. Outside they gathered around Severus as he opened his tiny black wand box, and admired his light colored wand for a moment before lifting it out of the cloth padding.

"So, how do we call it?" He asked them.

"Maybe you wave it, and say some thing like 'Come, Knight Bus'?"

Next too them, Rain chuckled. "Sorry, but its much simpler, just stick your wand in the air, like you calling a taxi." Seveus followed her orders, and a the purple triple -decker bus stopped in front of them seconds after.

"All aboard!" Called the old conductor, leaning out the front window to leer at them.

As Severus and Lily stepped onto the worn metal, Rain's feet stayed firmly planted on the ground. "I'll see you guys September first!"

Severus turned around in surprise. "Your not coming with us?"

Rain shook her head, "I have to wait for Ashley."

"Then, take care of yourself till September!" Lily leaned down and gave her a one-armed hug. Rain nodded and stepped onto the curb as the bus started to roll away, gaining momentum.

Lily and Severus waited until they couldn't see her shrinking silhouette against the sunset, before climbing into the warm interior.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Lily! Lllllllliiiiilllllyyyy!!!" Rain screamed down the platform, causing several people to point and look at her.

"Over here!" Lily called, waving Rain over. She had just finished saying 'good-bye' to her parents and was all revved up for her new school.

Next to her Severus groaned, "And it was just about to get quiet...", but he was smiling as Rain raced over to them, only slightly hampered but her huge trunk and the large cage sitting on top of it.

Before Rain even reached them she was calling, "Lets go find seats!" After exchanging quick greetings, they walked straight past the packed first few carriages, to the last one with seats in it. Rain led the way into the ruby red steam engine to the very last compartment.

"We have arrived!" Rain threw open the door like she was entering a game show , but the audience was limited to a one. A tall, gawky, cute boy with extremely long limbs and shaggy clothes, he flicked dirty blond bangs out of his eyes and glanced away from the window when Rain came through open the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't think anyone wanted this compartment, I'll leave." He stood up and reached for his trunk, hanging in the tiny compartments above their heads.

"Stay! Its more fun with more people, besides we need some strong men to help us lift up our trunks anyway." Rain told him.

"What, I don't count as a strong man?" Severus teased, slightly uncomfortable with their new quest.

"Wait, your a guy?" She asked with fake innocence.

Lily smiled at the new boy comfortingly, "Ignore them, their just excited. Could you help me lift up my trunk?" Severus glared at him as he took Lily's trunk from her and lifted it above his head, politely he did the same to Rain's. Severus attempted to lift his own and was fine until he got it above his head, his arms buckled, the new boy caught it just before it hit the ground, and, ignoring Severus's jealous stare, lifted it up for him.

Only after they were settled did Rain ask, "So, _stranger_, whats your name?"

The boy smiled at her, "Remus. Remus Lupin."

"I'm Rain, this is Lily, and Severus." She pointed to her friends in turn. They were all silent for a while, watching the last of the stragglers say good bye and get on the train. One hansom boy with black hair got onto their carriage through the backdoor, behind them.

"The beautiful person has arrived!" The boy they'd watched get on behind them, walk through the door and slammed it shut behind him, he grinned wickedly at them all, gray eyes shining brightly with excitement. "Sirius Black." That was about all the introduction they'd get from him as he flopped on to the seat next to Remus after cramming a trunk onto their already full shelves, he stretched out like a cat and rested his arms behind his head.

"Beautiful?" Rain raised one eyebrow, "Well, your mother might say that, but...."

"Hey!" He complained while everyone else smiled.

"You set yourself up for that one, mate." Remus told him.

Severus was the first to break the awkward after Rain's joke, he turned to the new boys "So, what houses do you two think your going to be placed in?"

"Slytherin." Sirius said it without bravo, as if it were already official.

"I'd like to be in Gryffindor, but I'll probably be in Hufflepuff." Remus said shyly

"Really? You look kind of like the brave and brawny type to me." Lily told him innocently, next to her Severus bristled.

Remus smiled at them in return "What house do you think you'll be in?"

Before Lily could answer Severus replied "We're both going to be in Slytherin."

Sirius toasted them with an imaginary glass, as Remus turned to Rain. "And you?"

"I don't know much about the sorting test, but I think I'll be placed in Ravenclaw."

There was an overlapping of voices and Remus calmly replied "You must be quiet smart then?" but at the same time Lily cried in distress "We have to take a test?!!"

Speculation on the sorting ceremony overtook all other topics of discussion, Remus even convinced half the group to study '_Hogwarts, A History._', until their compartment door rattled open to reveal a smiling, dimpled women. "Anything off the cart, dears?"

"Oh! A round of pumpkin pasties for everyone, please." Rain stood up and dug into her pocket for money.

"I'll buy." Sirius offered, standing up to dig into his own pocket.

"Thats alright, I've got it." Rain said.

"I couldn't let a Lady pay for my food."

"Why not? Whats wrong with a girl buying you something?" She shot back.

"It'd be...rude, if I just let you buy everyone food." He said these words with a little more force, and turned to the women. "Can I have a round of pasties for everyone?"

"Can I have _two_ rounds of pasties for everyone?" Rain asked her, counting out three sickles in her hand.

"Can I have _three_?"

"Wait, no, give me _five _rounds."

"_Eight_!"

"_Ten_!"

"Sorry darlings, your the end of the line, I only have a dozen left." The women told them.

The were too busy arguing to even hear her.

"_Twelve_!"

"_Twenty_."

"Twenty_ five_!"

"_Thirty_ five!"

Lily inched around them and quietly asked the women for ten pasties, they traded three silver sickles and the white wax bag with pasties. "Guys?" She waved the bag in their faces. "I just bought the last she had."

Rain sent her a mock glare and leaned around her. "Can I have a round of cauldron cakes?"

"Can _I _have a round?"

"Oh _no_ you wont!"

"Just both get something different, and let the lady get on with her job!" Lily cried, thoroughly exasperated with them.

"Fine, give me an extra extra large package of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans." Rain asked to women.

"I'll take two rounds of chocolate frogs, for everyone." Satisfied that they were spending the same amount of money, the two piled their loot on the floor in the middle of the cabin and sat back down.

Lily turned over a package of Bertie Botts in her hands, with diluted curiosity. "Are these good?" She asked Remus, who was sitting across from her.

"I don't know, I've never even heard of them. I'll take one though." Remus held out her hand and Lily handed him an odd lime green one.

"Toss me one!" Sirius made a goal post with his fingers around his mouth. Lily threw him a eggplant colored bean, missing entirely, it landed on his lap. They all watched curiously as he inspected it, before throwing it up, into an flashy arc that ended in his mouth. To everyone's evident amusement, his face scrunched up, he had to take several gulps of his pastie before he managed to choke out, "Cough Medicine flavored!"

Remus inspected his with a new found caution, he nibbled off just the end of the bean. His eyebrows shot into his hairline, "Celery!"

"My turn!" Rain leaned around Severus to pluck a white bean out of Lily's bag. Now in the limelight, she popped the entire thing into her mouth, and chewed very slowly and deliberately. "Mayonnaise flavor!"

"Jeez, when they say every flavor, they mean every flavor!" Lily angled so she could see inside the bag, contemplating taking the risk. She offered it to Severus, who was being unusually quiet.

_______________________________

"Scooch over!" Sirius whispered to Rain, gesturing for her to move closer to Remus.

"No! Hagrid said only four to a boat."

"What, you want me to go sit with some strangers?" He asked, looking wounded.

"**_We're_** strangers, look, that boat only has three boys in it!" She gestured over to a boat whose occupants were chatting away like old friends.

"Move over or I'll sit in your lap!" Sirius threatened, not that he would mind sitting in the pretty girls lap...

"This isn't going to work." Rolling her eyes for good measure, Rain shifted so she was pressed against Remus's side, leaving a tiny space for Sirius.

"Thanks!" Sirius whispered enthusiastically as he jammed himself down next to her, making the boat tilt dangerously.

"Sirius! What are you doing?" Lily hissed across from him.

"Gracing you all with my lovely presence." He winked at her.

"Everyone in? Right- F'RWARD!" Hagrid's roar echoed down the riverbank, and the boats started to move slowly off the shore. It became quite obvious that their boat had extra weight, it was going much slower than any of the others. Several of the students started to lean around each other to peer into their boat, trying to see why they were going so slow. Sirius started to shift his weight ever so slowly, the boat started to tilt back and forth, making them go a little faster.

"Your going to make us tip!" Remus said, glaring over Rain's head at him.

"I have no idea what you talking about." Sirius said with mock innocence. The boat started to rock a bit fast. Rain had to grab Sirius's arm to steady herself, but quickly let go when he gave her a sly look.

"Stop it!" Severus growled, the effect was slightly ruined though, when he made a grab for the rim of the boat to keep him from falling of his seat.

"Oh ye of little faith," Sirius looked at them mournfully. "I bet all the boats are covered in charms to repel water and stay right side-up.

"Maybe, and maybe not, so don't test it." Remus told him.

"Please stop." Lily begged him, looking a little green around the edges.

"What, are you afraid of a little water?" The boat was rocking extremely close to the edge now.

"Yes! I don't know how to sw-" Whatever she was going to say, was cut off by a scream. The whole boat tipped completely over on its side, sending them all tumbling into the black, murky water. Everyone resurface covered in mud and seaweed, except for Lily.

Much too Sirius's amusement, the whole boat lay on its side for a moment, before grandly falling back onto its stomach. Now without any passengers, it sped away from them slickly, much faster than any of them could swim, leaving them to all tred water. "There goes our ride."

"You prick!" Severus yelled at him, he searched the murky water worriedly, "LILY!"

"Don't. Panic." Hagrid yelled over the water, sounding as if he should be obeying his own advice. "The mermaids or the squid with pick you up!" Remus dove under to get Lily, a few feet down he was swallowed by the blackness, they could no longer see him.

"Squid?" Rain yelled back to Hagrid, convinced she'd misheard him.

"Minerva will find you on the shore!" Hagrid yelled as the boats disappeared into the mist.

The three waited for what seemed like forever, but could only have been a few minutes. Finally, when Remus and Lily had shown no sign of life, Severus snapped. "This is all _your_ fault." And before they could stop him, he dove under, feebly kicking his legs. And then there were two.

"Well, this is quite..." Rain glanced around at the cold water and creepy mist, groping for a word to describe their situation.

"Exotic?" He finished for her. "There could be worse things than being alone with a girl." Always the flirt.

She gave him a distracted smile- before gasping, "Somethings got my foot!"

Sirius glanced down, between the folds of her robe something pale green was slowly rapping around her leg, making its way toward her waist. "Its just a piece of seaweed."

"Its moving!"

"No-look, I'll get it off." Sirius started to move closer to her, when he was within reaching distance of her leg he leaned forward to get a closer look. "You're right, it looks like a...grindylow?" It was incredibly doubtful that she heard him though, because right then, whatever it was shot downwards, dragging her under water.

He waited patiently, and fearfully for a few minuets, if anyone was down there, they'd be dead by now, normal humans can only survive about two minutes without air. "Guys?" He called, laughing nervously. "Ha ha, look, you got me back for tipping you. You can all come back now!"

Someone splashed him from behind. "See, that wasn't so hard!" He spun around, coming face to face with a pale girl, her eyes were bloodshot and yellow. Messy dreadlocks fell past her cannibalistic pointed teeth. "Well, hello there. Who might does this lovely lady have a name?"

The women stayed silent, she lifted her arms, so pale the skin looked all most see through. For the first time, Sirius realized she had no legs. Instead. a long curvy fish tail snaked through the water until she was inches from him. She wrapped both her arms around his neck, and yanked him roughly under the water.

Mentally, he cursed himself for being so stupid. He'd heard enough stories about merpeople kidnapping to fill the entire lake. _He should have known._ He thrashed and dug his fingernails into the mermaid's arms, but they were like lead, dragging him into the watery depths. The more he fought, the tighter the mermaid held him, until it became almost impossible to keep him from screaming and letting his precious air bubbles from escaping. Only when his vision swam with black worms, did he stubbornly let the bubbles escape.

Sirius was only dimly aware when the mermaid stopped, through slitted eyes he watched, barley coherent, as she leaned toward him, the mermaid pressed her lips to his. _'Getting hot babes, even it death.' _he couldn't help thinking. The mermaid slammed air into his lungs, and he had to clench his jaw to keep from coughing. As his eyes cleared, the mermaid continued yanking him through the water.

After fifteen minutes of the 'breath of life' kisses and fast swimming through the opaque water, the mermaid broke the surface. She practically threw Sirius into shallow water, where he landed on something soft.

"Oomph! Get off!" Squirming under him was Rain, who had apparently been attempting to drag herself onto the beech when he was flung on top of her.

He muttered quick apologies as they helped each other stand up, and made their way up to the rocky beach. The missing members of their group were all on the beach in different states of disarray. Remus was wringing out his shabby robes, while Severus draped his arm over Lily protectively a few feet away.

"W-w-what were those things?" Lily stammered, shivering so hard from the cold, her teeth clacked together.

"Mermaids, I think." Sirius answered her.

"You think? What, were too busy getting some action to look properly?" It was obvious that Rain had seen at least one of the breath kisses he and the mermaid had shared.

Remus ignored them, looking up at the huge castle towering over them. Through a huge window they could see a hall full of people, in the center was a short line of their fellow first years, diminishing quickly. "Do you think we should go inside?"

Rain scanned the riverside, "Hagrid told us that there would be a 'Minerva', that she would find us on the shore."

"Do you think its a riddle?" Severus asked them snottily, refusing to look at Sirius.

"Could this be our entrance test?" Lily whispered, looking very small and soggy.

"Minerva...could it mean something in another language?" Remus was raking his eyes over every possible attribute of the scenery. "Like, rock?"

"No, I think it might be a statue, or something." Rain wrung out her hair.

"Actually, Minerva's a person." Someone whispered out of the dark.

Remus drew his wand, facing the night. "Who's there?"

"Your the students that fell into the water?" A man stepped into the moonlight, out of the shadows of a tree. He was tall and abnormally thin with huge owlish eyes. Their wet clothing seemed to answer his question for him, "Follow me." The man had a twisted off-kilter aura, like a broken machine.

Lily and Severus stood up, not knowing what else to do, they walked in a close group after the man. He lead them up a thin animal track, ending on smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up stone steps to a huge door, the man opened it without knocking and, without a glance back to see if they were following, lead them into the castle.

They entered a huge stone entryway lit by flaming torches, a magnificent white marble staircase lead up to the upper floors. He lead them across the stone floors, and opened another door, this one tinier than the last. On the other side was the great hall they'd seen through the window, but now they could see the whole thing, decorated in floating candles and a ceiling made of sky. Four long tables stretched the length of the long room, all covered in golden plates and goblets. At the front of the room another long table had the same eating utensils made of gold, a group of teachers sat at it in intervals.

They entered through the door quietly, trying not to draw too much attention. Siting directly in the center of the teachers table was a silver haired man, with a long bearded. It looked like they'd just interrupted his speech. ""The Forbidden Forest, as its name suggests, remains forbidden. Any seventh-year students requiring access for herbologyprojects may speak with Hagrid."

"Likewise regarding our fauna and flora, Hogwarts - with the assistance of Professor Sedley - has managed to acquire a rare Whomping Willow specimen, which has been planted in the north meadow - quite fascinating. However, it's known for being temperamental, and I ask that all students avoid it. Ah, I see the rest of our first years have arrived." _So much for being inconspicuous, _at the mans words every face sitting at the long tables turned toward them like a wave.

A women in a green shawl with a stern face stood up and walked around the table to a stool sitting in front of it. "Would you please come forward."

They walked down the center aisle in a disorganized clump, dripping water all over the shiny floors. Curious, they stopped in the front of the room, ten feet from the women in a green shawl.

She lifted a list out of her pocket, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on this stool to be sorted." Glancing down at her list one last time she called out "Black, Sirius!"

Sirius took his time swaggering up there, and with a arrogant flourish he placed himself on the seat. The women in green snatched a dusty, old looking hat off the teachers table and handed it over. His group of friends were the only ones close enough to hear him when he muttered, "Not much of a fashion statement." He settled the the hat over his ears, and his eyes seemed to fog over before the hat screamed.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

One of the tables roared with cheering, suppository the Gryffindors. The green women glanced at her list once more. "Che'vock, Raina!"

Sirius slipped the hat off his head and left it on the chair for Rain, and he walked, smirking and suprised, over to the Gryffindors. Rain placed the hat on delicately, where it slid past her eyes and on to her nose. It took longer to chose her house than Sirius's, but finally screamed, "GRYFFINDOR!"

This time, the Gryffindors added a few catcalls to their clapping and cheering. "Evens, Lily!"

Lily stepped up to the stool, still shivering, and took the hat from Rain, who gave her a concerned smile. Placing it on her own head, where it fit much better than it had on Rain's head. It barley touched her hair before it screamed. "GRYFFINDOR!"

She looked extremely surprised as she set the hat down on the stool, sending Severus a sad smile, before joining her house. "Remus, Lupin!"

Before he left Remus whispered to Severus, "I'm starting to see a trend in houses, good luck."

When Remus set the hat on his head, it twisted to look down at his face, say quietly in his ear. "Ah, a werewolf?" He could feel the hat sifting through his mind, and he mentally tried to repeat, _'Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor...' _The hat seemed to think for a while before shouting, like he did for all the others. "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Snape, Severus!"

Severus climbed up to the stool with trembling legs. How could Lily have been sorted in Gryffindor? The hat must have made a mistake! He settled the hat on his head, and only after a moment, longer than Lily's, but shorter than Sirius's, the hat screeched. "SLYTHERIN!"

The table farthest from the Gryffindors erupted in cheers and Severus met Lily's eyes once more across the room, he clambered off the tall stool to join his new house, feeling as if everything had suddenly gone very wrong, very fast.

The man with silver hair had gotten to his feet. He was beaming out at the crowds of students, his arms opened wide as if he couldn't be more overjoyed to see them. "Now that we've gotten that sorted out, welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, as always, I would like too say a few words! Frizzy, vouch, clippers! Thank you, and let the feast begin!"

With a extravagant wave of his arm, the all the golden plates on the tables were filled with food. Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon, boiled potato, Yorkshire pudding...the list went on an on, every plate was piled high with delicious food.

"It'll be all right, we'll see the Slytherins all the time, they have tons of classes with us!" Rain gave Lily a comforting smile, watching her look at the Slytherin table with longing.

"I hope not!" said a girl next too her, she stuck out her hand to Lily, "I'm Alice Young, I'm a first year too! And this," She pointed across the table to a boy picking at his food, "is Frank Longbottom, my boyfriend!"

Rain's eyes followed her finger, she stopped her fork halfway to her mouth. A little way down the table, talking to Frank, was a silver see-through man. He was dressed in ruffly, old fashioned, see through clothing, that looked as if it belonged in the 1660's french court. "My goodness, what _is _that?"

"Oh him? Hes Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-er...something, he's the ghost of Gryffindor tower. Theres a ghost for every tower." Right at the moment Alice said his name, to Rain and Lily's surprise, in what looked like a reply to a question, the ghost ripped off his head and sat it on his shoulder, like it was attached only by a thin hinge. Ignoring the ghost, Alice shoveled more food into her mouth and spun back to face them.

But before Alice could speak again, a blond girl across from them claimed their attention. "I'm soooo glad you girls showed up! All the houses, except Gryffindor, had, like, sixteen people! Gryffindor only had, like, twelve! Six girls and seven boys! Not that I mind having more boys than girls, but some of them a kinda creepy! Ya know?" _Does she ever shut up? "_Like, take that kid for example!" She pointed to a chubby, watery eyed kid sitting next to Remus. "He looks like a rat! And I heard on the train, that he already asked Shelby out! How gross is that, I mean he didn't even try to get to _know_ her. But the boys you guys came in with, can you say, like, _eye candy_? Look at that Sirius Black!"

The girl was starting to remind Rain of Ashley, But Lily spoke before she could say anything, "Oh, yeah, I guess... Who's the boy sitting next too him?"

The blond girl leaned forward so she could see better. She dipped her hair in Ketchup, but didn't notice. "You mean James? Hes adorable, I hear he's a Quidditch player!"

"Quidditch?" Lily asked, watching the newly identified James run his hands through his hair.

"_You don't know what Qudditch is_?" Alice exclaimed, almost spilling pumpkin juice down her front. The blond girl reeled back, almost falling off her seat.

"Um, no?" Lily said uncertainly, looking to Rain for help.

Rain, not looking at all interested, pushed her mashed potatoes to one side of her plate, "Its like muggle football, but with brooms."

"Its nothing like muggle football!" The blond hissed. "Football is all about guys smashing into each other, and being boorish! Qudditch is _graceful_!"

Rain was having a very hard time not snorting into her pumpkin juice, as Alice started to explain the rules to Lily. "The game is played by two teams of seven people and involves four balls. The Keeper guards the goal posts, the three Chasers score goals with the Quaffle, the two Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team, and lastly the Seeker catches the Golden Snitch."

"The object of the game is to score more points than your opponent. Each goal is worth ten points and catching the Snitch is worth one hundred and fifty points. The game ends when the Snitch is caught or an agreement is reached between the captains of both teams."

"Your so missing out! We'll have to take you to the first game of the season!"

"_Everyone_ goes to the first game!" Alice said, like the blond should know that already.

Lily was looking back and forth, between the two girls, but could hear Rain mumble "Not everyone."

When everyone in the hall was done eating, the food vanished. The man with long silver hair stood again, "Ahem- Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you."

"Classes for first years start the day after tomorrow, I suggest the first years use tomorrow to socialize and get settled."

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact their house's head teacher."

He flicked his wand out at them all, "And now, bed time! Off you all trot!"

The Gryffindor first years followed the boy with a prefects badge that had told them to change on the train out of the hall, and up the marble staircase, Rain and Lily stayed behind.

"Do you see him?" Lily was craning her head anxiously to see over the Ravenclaws in front of them to see if Severus was still sitting with the Slytherins. She grabbed Rain's hand, together they threaded through the crowds of people to the Slytherin table.

"Excuse me," Rain tapped a boy with long silvery blond hair on the shoulder, he looked young enough to be in their year. He turned to frown hauntingly at them, "Do you know where Severus Snape is?"

"Who wants to know?" Behind the him, two muscular boys grinned nastily at them.

"Lily Evans" Lily was ignoring the boys behind him.

"Evans? That isn't a pureblood surname. So, why are you talking to me?" He gestured for them to shoo and turned back to his friends.

Lily smiled uncertainly. "I'm not a pureblood."

He repeated himself sarcastically without turning around. "Exactly, why are you talking to me?"

Rain layed a hand of his shoulder, as if he were a good friend. With false sounding cheerfulness she said, "I'm Raina Che'vock." she gave him a pat and returned her hand to her pocket.

The boy turned around very fast, he had a fake, almost robotic smile. The boys behind him suddenly looked much more friendly. "Che'vock! I'm Lucius Malfoy." The boy patted the seat next to him, an invitation for them to sit down. "Severus just went to the common room, would you like to sit down and have a nice chat? Later we could show you the way to the dungeons."

It was like watching a court dace, everyone overly polite and fake, as if afraid to offended the other. "Though I'm sure your companionship is quite lovely, I must decline your offer." Rain smiled in a queenly way and looped her arm through Lily's. "You see, I really must find my own common room."

The question of 'If not Slytherin, what house do you belong too?' was on Lucius's lips when Rain offered a polite smile and pulled Lily down the aisle. As soon as they were out of earshot Rains smile melted into a frown and she said hotly "I hate people like that!"

"Why are most purebloods in Slytherin?" Lily asked her.

"Me and Sirius aren't in Slytherin." Rain pointed out.

Lily blinked at her in supries. "Sirius is a pureblood? How did you know?"

Rain shrugged in quiet shyness, as if she hadn't realized she'd given away that information. "I had to study all the Pureblood surnames."

"Why?"

Rain either didn't hear her, or was pretending not too, because she changed the subject, "Is that Sirius and Remus? Why didn't they go up to the common room with everyone else?"

Lily looked past Rain too the Gryffindor table, where James, Sirius, Remus, and the chubby boy the blond girl had been talking about earlier sat. "Remus!"

Sirius looked up as Remus waved them over. Rain plopped down next too James, while Lily sat sideways next too her. " 'Ello laddies, why aren't you up in the common room?"

All the boys flintched, "We-er- decided that we don't need to follow the crowd, cause, er-" The boy, James said.

"-Our incredible hotness will guide the way." Sirius finished his story.

Lily snorted unladylikely, "Just be honest, and say you didn't notice them leave."

The chubby boy whispered accusingly, "_Girls, there always.._."

"Hey, I resent that!" Rain injected, letting her head rest on her hand. "I'm tired and sleepy!"

Remus glanced at her, drowsily pointing out, "Those two adjectives mean the same thing."

"I couldn't just say I was tired! That's not enough to complain about."

"_Right. _Anyway, Lets go find the common room." Remus reached over the table to steady Lily, who was so tired she was swaying slightly.

"How?" While they were talking, the hall had emptied out around them, the only other occupants were some older Hufflepuffs.

"Didn't I already tell you?" Sirius said, leaning around James. "My incredible hotness will guide the way."

Despite Lily's protests, the group moved out into the entrance hall. Sirius paused for a moment, contemplating his choices, before leading them up to the marble stair case. They entered a hallway filled with moving paintings. He lead them down it, and under a curtain, into another hallway.

"So, where do you live?" James asked Lily, walking a little slower so they fell behind the rest of the group.

Lily shot him a glare, too tired to be confused. She retorted with a two word answer, "Spinners End."

Ahead of them, Remus was trying to convince Sirius, who was wondering in god-knows what direction. "We should mark our path, so we can go back the way we came."

Grudgingly, Sirius borrowed a quill from Remus, scrawling a tiny shape at eye level. "A paw print? Why a paw print?" Rain asked him.

Sirius shrugged and launched into a story about a fourtion teller who'd had told him he had the soul of a dog, while behind them, James was still confidently talking to Lily. "I was just wondering, if you'd like to go out with me?"

"What?" Lily yelped. "I barely know you!" _And she'd thought he was a nice guy?_

Lily sped up to join Rain, who was laughing about a joke Sirius had just made. James chest deflated a bit, watching the pretty redhead, he already had a crush on, not spare him a second glance. He stayed behind them for a while, until something fragile smashed into his head, and black liquid dripped down his chin. The group in front of him, hearing the shattering noise, spun to find a wide-eyed James with his wand pointed straight into a face off with thin air.

There was a tiny pop, and a ghost with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in mid air, juggling several pots of ink. Lily ducked as a inkpot flew toward her, only to smash into a painting of a fat woman in a pink dress.

The fat women in the painting woke with a start to glare down at them. "If you think vandalizing my painting will help you get into the common ro-"

The ghosts high pitched giggling drowned her out. "Firsties, dursties! Lets have some fun!"

As the ghost threw a pot at Sirius, who grabbed Rain by her robes and practically dragged her down the hall in a run. After a moment of hesitation and two inkpots, the rest of the group bolted to catch up with them. They raced in circles around the seventh floor, most of them imagining the nice warm beds they could be sleeping in. In a few minutes, the chubby boy in their group-Did he say his name was Peter?-fell behind and disappeared. Finally, when they turned a sudden corner and were out of sight of the gleefully humming ghost. Sirius, who was still leading the way, threw open a door, practically shoving them all in side, before slamming it shut behind them.

"Sirius, what-?" Lily started to ask, shoving a suddenly happy James off of her. She cut off though, as Sirius gestured for her to be silent. They were all breathing hard, but tried to hold their breath as a raging Ghost flew down the hallway outside. The door would had flown open is Sirius hadn't hurriedly fumbled a spell to seal the door. After a brief silence, in which Sirius had his ear pressed against the door, he gesture that it should be alright to talk.

"This is the second time tonight that I've gotten soaked." Rain spoke first, holding up her drenched robes, everyone had gotten hit with a least one pot of ink.

"What? Oh, thats right. Why did you all arrive in the hall soaking wet?" James asked her.

"Your so lucky that you have black hair!" Lily moaned, holding up speckled red strands of her bright hair. Rain ignored James's question and started to towel off Lily's hair with a dry part of her robe.

Remus was frowning around the room, now that they weren't in peril of recovering, they all looked around. The room was painted a dark maroon with swirls of gold and silver designs. It was filled with bookshelves stuffed with books and interestingly colored boxes. Cushy, old, white armchairs surrounded a merry fire. A silver, rail less, circular staircase led up to a domed room, which ceiling was made entirely of glass, a stargazing room.

Abandoning Rain's fruitless attempts of cleaning her hair, Lily wondered over to the the bookshelves filled with boxes. She examined one, and then held it up for them to see. "These are muggle board games!" The box she held was covered in rainbows and read 'CANDY LAND' in big bubble letters.

"Board games?" James drifted over to her, seeking more to just be near her than actual curiosity.

Sirius flopped down in an armchair, rubbing a hand through his wet hair, as he tried in vain to get it out of his face. Remus settled himself on a love seat, staring into the flames, while listening dimly to Lily. Rain wondered past them all to sit drowsily on a silver step and stare up at the glittering stars her position reviled. They stayed that way until there had been a long silence since the last time the infuriated ghost had raced past their room.

Sirius dusted himself off and wrung out his ink stained hair before he stood up and crossed over to the door, everyone quieted, waiting to see if the ghost would come through when he opened it. He grasped the handle firmly in one tan hand, "As much as I enjoy all of your company, I really think we should all go to b-" Sirius turned the door handle again, this time bracing his foot against the frame of the door and pulling with all his might. He returned to his chair calmly and said unemotionally, "Never mind. I think we'll be together for a while longer. Apparently, the door is locked."

"Are you serious?" Lily walked over to the door, muttering spells under her breath, tapping it with her wand, and turning the handle frequently. James gave up the chase, making his way over to the circle of armchairs, Rain got up and followed him, sitting with her knees to her chest next to Remus.

"Darling," Sirius drawled, "I'm _always_ serious."

The pun got mixed reactions from everyone, laughs, glares, and in one case, a furious blush. After about an fifteen minuets of fiddling, Lily gave up and joined them, claiming the only seat left, which unfortunately was a love seat with James.

"Okay," Rain stretched out her arms, shifting to get more comfortable. "What do we do now?"

"We wait." Sirius said simply, watching the fire.

"What, is complete silence? Lily said this room has boar games." She said, looking incredulous.

"_Board_ games." Lily corrected.

"Well we could, sure." Sirius pondered their choices. No one had any inclination to move though, everyone was tired and Lily was resting her head on her chin, almost asleep.

Out of boredom, or because James just really wanted to start a conversation with Lily, no one was quite sure, but he turned to her. "Lily, what are you most afraid of?"

Lily started, then wrapped her arms around herself, glaring at him. "Why, going to try to black mail me?"

"No, I'm was just wondering." He blushed.

"Whats _your_ worst fear then?" Lily asked.

James turned away and mumble, just loud enough for them to barely hear. "Bees."

"Bees?" Lily asked, not sure if she'd heard him right.

James paled, like just hearing the word was fearful. "There big! and they buzz really loud, and they fly around your head in big circles, taunting you! Did you know their guts are attached to their stingers? when they sting you, their guts get ripped out and thats why they die!"

"That was way more information than I needed to hear." Her eyes had grown very wide.

"Yeah, well...now its _your_ turn!" James grumbled, apparently a little embarrassed at his outburst.

Lily hugged herself tighter and stared into the fire, she spoke quietly, but clearly. "I'm afraid of drowning."

"Oh." Sirius scratched his chin sheepishly, remembering the nights events. "Sorry, about, you know..."

"Its okay." The way she said it contradicted her words, it was clearly not okay.

Everyone wanted to get away from the awkward silence that followed Lily's confession. Remus was rummaging in the pit between the couch cushions, he pulled out a hardcover book, rubbing his back. "Ouch, guess what was stabbing me?"

Sirius was across the floor in a few excited bounds. "Its Qudditch Through the Ages!"

___________________________________________________________________

"_Ahem_." Sirius woke with a start, to find himself draped over a table covered in tiny Quidditch figures, and a goalpost digging into his side. Next too him Rain had her head pillowed on his stomach, her hand dangled off the table to rest on someone's foot, where Remus and James lay sprawled under the table in a heaping twist of limbs and more Qudditch pieces. Lily was the only one not too have joined there warm pileup, she had her legs curled up under her on a cushy chair not far away, a thin stream of drool slid out of her mouth.

"_Ahem_." Sirius heard the noise that had woken him up again, he propped his head up groggily, and turned to find the women who had given them instructions during their house-sorting ceremony, posed in the door. Her face was doing an almost perfect impression of an angry storm cloud, behind her were two worried looking girls and Peter.

"Why," The women asked, "Are half my first year students not sleeping in their beds?"

Sirius started too pull himself up, if he was going to explain, it'd be better if the others didn't have to wake up before they absolutely had too. He'd forgotten that Rain's head was on his stomach though, and the sudden movement woke her. She shot up, she'd barley fit on the table as it was, but the sudden move send her tumbling off the table onto James. James gave a startled squawk and jumped, which woke up Remus , Lily hearing the commotion, wasn't far behind. Sirius, helplessly holding the scruff of Rain's shirt, which he'd grabbed when she fell, was reminded of perfectly executed dommonos.

"Uh, we can explain." Sirius offered feebly, pulling a plastic seeker out of his hair. "We-er-were trying to find our way to the common room, but we got delayed, by a...ghost." The truth seemed more like he was making up a lie on the spot.

"A ghost?" The Women asked mildly, looking like she didn't believe a word he'd said.

"Yes, he chased us into this room, and we fell asleep waiting for him to leave."

"Then who locked the door with a_ luchios_ charm?" Her eyes raked over their group, pausing on Rain, the only one with a visible wand. "Was it you?"

Rain shared a glace with Sirius, who was looking slightly lonely. She wasn't going to let him go to detention alone. "Yes." She fibbed hesitantly, shooting Sirius a look that said _'You'd better pay me back for this!' _"I preformed the lock charm, but I didn't know how too undo it, so we got stuck."

There was a short silence, as Remus helped Rain and James to their feet. James asked "How did you find us?"

The women had a way of making them feel ashamed, when they hadn't done anything wrong. She leveled whatever courage James had built up to ask his question with one well placed glare. " Miss. Young informed me that her room was half empty. When we searched the boys dorm, we found Mr. Pettigrew sleeping alone in his room." Everyone glared at Peter, he was _sleeping_? Sleeping? While the rest of them waited for rescue?

"Miss. Young, Miss. Rose, Mr. Pettigrew, Thank you for your help, now if you could please return to your beds." The women said it so dismissively that the students crowded around the door couldn't possibly refuse. Hearing 'Miss. Young's' name, Lily and Rain realized that the girl was Alice, from the talk they had at dinner. As the three reluctantly returned to their beds, the women turned back to the rooms occupants. "I think its time we all returned to our beds. Follow me."

The group tightened together, Lily joining them from across the room. Outside the door was a strange painting of trolls in pink tutus, the women led us down two corridors and too a painting with a fat women in a pink dress, she was wiping ink off her skirts when they came up too her. "Password?" She asked sharply.

"Dilligrout!" the strict women said quietly, and with a huff, the painting swung open to reveal a hole in the wall. She impatiently gestured them through, then followed behind them. Past the hole was a huge circular room, filled with squishy armchairs and tables, a fire crackled cheerily in its grate, the flames a bright orange. The women briskly led them over to two large staircases, leading upward. "If you've already forgotten, I am Professor MoGonagall , the head of your house. If you get up to any more trouble, I will give you detention." She pointed to the stairs, "Boys on the left, girls on the right, doors labeled 'First years room two'." She glared at them. "Now off to bed, I'll be back in ten minuets and if you five aren't in your beds..." Her voice trailed off as she climbed back through the portrait hole

"Did you here that? It was our first warning!" Lily glared at the boys as if it were their fault. "If any of you get me dragged into detention in my first week, I'll...I'll hex you to Christmas myself!" She stomped up the stairs and out of sight.

Rain grimaced and rubbed her back, sore from sleeping somewhere hard, she yawned loudly.

"What she said!" James gestured to Rain and started up the stairs.

"Good-night!" Rain yelled at Jame's disappearing back, as he turned the corner. Someone from a room labeled 'Prefects' threw a pillow out their door, in reply to her yell, it missed her by inches.

"Jeez, your already making us unpopular in the dorms." Sirius said, shoving her playfully.

"Don't worry, I think that you guys will be able to make yourselves plenty unpopular by the end of tomorrow, or is it today? What time is it?" Rain yawned again, not expecting an answer, she started for her stairs, "Good night, Remus. Good night, Sirius."

"Good night!" They chorused.


	3. Chapter 3

Eeek! Sorry, this ones a little short.

-------

"Oh my god!" Alice cried, looking in horror at the monstrosity in her hand. "They don't actually expect us to wear these do they?"

"Its looks like a horrible designer stole it off a Irish bagpiper!" Abigail, who told everyone to call her 'Gale', surveyed her new outfit.

"A _blind_ Irish bagpiper." Rain said, buttoning up her starch white shirt.

"Did you know bagpipers don't wear underwear under their kilts?" Alice asked them.

Over the complaints of 'We really didn't need to know that!' and 'They do expect us to wear underwear, right?', Lily was woefully dressing, "Uniforms create unity."

When the four roommates had awoken late in the morning, they'd all found uniforms laid out on top of their trunks. The uniform consisted of a button up, collared, white shirt, red and gold striped tie, and a golden and red plaid short skirt. The other first year girls room across the hall, were making similar noises of disgusted. Earlier they'd hear James screech "We have to wear ties?" and after that Peter saying "Do you think they come in a bigger size?". It was clear that the uniforms weren't at all popular among the students.

"Okay, well, I'm heading down to breakfast anyone coming?" Rain asked them, Lily nodded, but their new roommates shook their heads and continued complaining about their clothes. The trip down to the dining hall was much more uneventful compared to the last time they had walked the halls. They found James in the great hall, Rain sitting next to him and across from Lily.

"Two lovely ladies, joining me for breakfast?" James caught Lily's eye across the table. "Could it be that you've fallen for me, Evans?"

Lily huffed, "Are you bloody serious?"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Sirius pushed James and Rain apart, shoving himself down between them. "I'm bloody Sirius!"

Lily buttered her toast, sticking her nose in the air. "Those name jokes are getting really old, really fast."

"No the ir not! My name jokes will never get old!" Sirius mock glared at her, while Rain laughed.

"Whose side are you on?" Lily shot Rain a mocking look before returning to her bacon.

After a minute of munching, Rain leaned over to tug on Sirius's loose tie. "Nice uniform." she commented. The boys uniform was a white button up shirt similar to the girls, and a tie with their house colors, with black slacks.

"I think I prefer yours." He looked pointedly at the exposed legs of some Hufflepuff girls walking past, snatching his tie from her grasp.

Rain tugged self-consciously on her skirt. "I have an extra, would you like one?"

"I don't know, I'm not sure I have to legs for it." He confirmed, stealing James toast

"An extra what?" Remus settled next too Lily, his untied tie hanging limply from his neck.

Lily fixed his tie, ignoring James's jealous glare. "Don't ask. I was thinking about exploring the library today, would you like to come, Remus?"

He shrugged, "Sure, actu-"

Sirius yelped. "What? You can't go to the _library_!"

"Why not?"

"Its sunny! Look at outside, its a beautiful day! We were going to go swimming!" Sirius spread his arms wide, an invitation to look at the enchanted ceiling, where cottenball clouds were drifting over the blueberry-colored sky.

"I can't swim." Lily reminded him.

Sirius snorted, shoving three apples into his pocket as he got up, he gestured for the guys to follow him. "So we'll find somewhere shallow. I'll meet you in the common room in twenty minutes."

In the middle of trying to escape before she could say no, Lily called out "What if I don't have a bathing suit?"

Sirius laughed, calling over his shoulder only when he was far enough so that he'd have to yell over the entire hall. "Then come in your birthday-suit!" Everyone glanced over a them and Lily seemed to shrink, tr ying to hide from the curious glances and glares from the faculty.

Rain raised amused eyebrows and offered, "I can lend you a bathing suit."

Lily shrunk lower in her seat and glared at Rain, "I'm not going."

X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X.x.X.

Twenty five minutes later found five towel-clad friends climbing down the hill onto the rocky beach.

"Geez, The waters freezing!" Remus said, crouching on the waters edge so he dip his fingers in the water.

"Great, you can test it out for us!" Sirius put a seemingly comforting hand on his shoulder, and without any detectable regret, shoved Remus into the icy water.

When Remus surfaced after throwing his wet towel at Sirius he glared at him, "I'm going to get sick!"

Sirius ignored him, turning to his companions. "Okay, who _doesn't_ want to go in?"

"Me!" Rain said, draping her towel over soft sand, revealing a black and silver swimsuit. Sirius gave her a sharp look and she surrendered, wading into the lake to join Remus.

"I'm defiantly not going in. No matter what you do, you can't make me!" Lily shrieked as Sirius lunged for her, she ran down the bank. Sirius shrugged, and looked at his new best friend.

James glanced between the water and Sirius, weighing out what would be more entertaining, finally he grinned and raced toward the water. "CANNONBALL!"

Sirius ignored the surprised calls and sounds of a huge splash from behind him and ran after Lily, who was well ahead of him.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked a dripping Rain.

"Yep, its just colder than I thought it would be."

"At least you were prepared." Remus joked.

He felt himself blush as she inspected his uncovered chest. "Where did you get all those scars? Do your-" She cut off abruptly when James waded over to them, his eyes on the beach where Sirius had the edge of Lily towel in hand as she desperately tried to re-obtain it, while still running.

"Do you think he'll catch her?"

Remus laughed, "I think its obvious." They floated and watched as Lily tripped and was pounced on, eventually Sirius carried Lily back over his shoulder and tossed her like a sack of potatoes into the the water.

She emerged shivering, "Just so you know, I'm _never_ hanging out with any of you, ever again."


End file.
